Friday, April 12, 2024

DOING RIGHT THINGS RIGHTLY

Before Jesus died, someone performed a religious ritual to cleanse Jesus in preparation of the seventh day — the Sabbath, according to Jewish Law, to wit:

“A clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave.” (Num 19:8) 

The ‘one’ that would do that considered himself clean and Jesus soiled. One would do just that when Jesus was about to die. The water in a hyssop reed, which is much like bamboo but not rigid, would hold the water, albeit it was a weak vessel. Matthew wrote of an unknown person that performed that ceremonial cleansing on Jesus. It would be the ultimate way to humiliate Jesus. Look what Matthew wrote:

And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. (Mat 27:48) 

Immediately before Jesus was to die, one person thought it expedient to purify Jesus (Num 19:9) before He was slain. The ritual was to be performed on one already slain. Jesus was considered as good as dead before he was nailed to the Cross. There was no turning back. Ironically, Jesus would not stay dead; perhaps one thing that contributed to his resurrection was because the ritual had not been done correctly.

Before the “sponge” is considered, examine the “reed.” It was likely a hyssop reed that was common to that place. It is much like bamboo but flexible; it can bend freely in the wind. It could make a nice whip, or like bamboo, a drinking cup for drinking clean water.

That person ran because the time was waning, and the ceremony was for the seventh day which was quickly approaching since it was late Friday. The seventh day was about to start so that person had to act quickly to not break the ritual.

The sponge was imbued with vinegar and placed atop the bamboo. Water would seep into the ‘cup’ and the reed would act like a funnel to provide for Jesus a drink. He would not touch the sponge, but the reed would drip the water down into His mouth.

However, on this occasion, it was not clean water as it should have been, but sour wine mixed with water. Wine, in those days, was full of residual pulp that contained fermentation. It was not truly wine but soured grape vinegar mixed with water.

Symbolically that concoction was the salvation of Jesus, or perhaps a mockery of salvation; John wrote the following: 

This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness because the Spirit is truth. (1 John 5:6)

 

Jesus would be the ‘cup’ that spilled blood and water from His belly as he was pieced after He died.

One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. (John 19:34)

 The first “one” did it in mockery, it seems, before the death; however, the soldier performed the ritual after Jesus died. Longinus, that soldier, performed the ritual correctly. He saw pure blood and water pouring from the ‘cup’ of Jesus. The previous evening Jesus prayed, “saying, ‘O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, your will be done” (Mat 26:42).

Longinus performed the cleansing ritual, according to Law when He pierced the side of Jesus after Jesus had died.

The one who brought Him the sponge on a reed, brought Jesus soured wine mixed with water. Wine represents the blood of Christ (Mat 26:28). The water represents the Holy Spirit of Jesus flowing from the belly of Him. The crucifixion of Jesus was serving mankind living water as He told the woman at the well, that “He (Himself) would have given you living water” (John 4:10).

The sponge may have been a real sponge full of whatever water was at hand to mix with the sour wine, along with its unclean dregs — the particles of fermentation, or unclean fungi. Real sponges were living organisms at that time, by then dead and dry to absorb liquids. The sponges would have been considered unclean themselves, and the ceremony would be more for the cleansing of the dead organism than for Jesus who was still alive!

The ritual sacrifice made by that one was not efficacious for many reasons: it was done wrongly in time, the elements were impure, and it was done in mockery. However, Longinus, the soldier, did the ritual correctly although he was a Roman who knew nothing of the ritual, in all likelihood.

David wrote about the Savior, “Purge Me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash Me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7)

The first one did that wrongly. He endeavored, not to purge Jesus of uncleanness, but imbue Him with it. He was about to give Jesus dirty water and soured grape juice with dregs having impurities.

His performance of ritual cleansing was not efficacious, and even if he meant well; he got it wrong! The soldier, Longinus, did not mean well, but got it right.

There is no record of the sponge bearing one understanding that Jesus was God, but the soldier saw it differently: 

When they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs, but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knows that He saith true, that you might believe. (John 19:33-35)

 The ritual of the Law was for one that touched the bone, not broken bone, but intact bones. The soldiers never broke the bones because they never broke Jewish Law. The one who pierced Jesus to provide pure blood and water did so rightly — without the breaking of the bones that was the usual case because people fought death and did the cleansing after Jesus died.

Nobody killed the perfect sacrifice. The nails did not kill Jesus, the people did not, the lance did not, and neither did the bone crusher. Jesus as God sacrificed Himself. There was no other Way! You might say, “No, the Father did that,” but the Father was in Jesus. Jesus was just the Image of God that God toppled, leaving the Holy Ghost quite well who was the inner Image of Jesus and God Himself.

The Son was there, the Father was there, and so was the Holy Spirit; God was there in One Person with the Phantom of God within and the Power that left Him to provide enough Virtue to heal the nations (Rev 22:2).

picture credit spongeon; "Live Sponge."

 

No comments:

Post a Comment